I’m a Renaissance Woman

I have been speaking with a career coach for about a month now. If you are familiar at all with coaching, you’ll know that in a lot of ways they are getting you to come to your own realizations. Often they do this by asking you questions (rather than feeding you the answer or assuming that they know what you want or need). So when my coach asked me today what I wanted most, the answer wasn’t so simple. First I said I wanted focus, but as we talked, I realized that focus is what I thought others wanted from me.

I am often seen as someone who is all over the place. I am constantly reading three different books, working on several different craft projects and watching half a dozen different television series. And while they don’t get completed quickly, they do get completely eventually (I finally watched the last season of Friends a few months ago!). One friend used to always say, “Leah, you always have 10 irons in the fire.” At many points in my life, I have felt that this was perceived as an inability to focus or commit. That this was somehow a bad thing, which needed to be fixed.

Now, as a mother and a wife, my tendency to run in all these different directions at once can seem to me to be a bit selfish. Why should I be wasting time on a variety of projects? Is this even a good use of my time? But as I spoke with my career coach today, I realized something. I told her that history, especially biographies of famous people, is something else I enjoy. And the people I enjoy reading about and admire the most are those figures who society would call ‘renaissance men.’ The Oxford dictionary defines a renaissance man as “a person with man talents or areas of knowledge.” (Thank you, Oxford, for altering the definition to ‘person’ so as to include women.) I think of someone like Benjamin Franklin as a renaissance man. He was an inventor, diplomat, politician and author, among other things.

I am not trying to compare myself to Mr. Franklin (I tried to speak French and wasn’t very good at it). But I do enjoy having different interests. I have never been someone who desired to commit to one thing, say violin, and become the world’s greatest violinist by practicing 10 hours a day (I have played the violin before, by the way). You can say I don’t have the commitment, patience or discipline. I see it more as there are so many things to do and explore in this world, that I don’t want to spend all my time on one or two of them. I am certainly committed to being a mom and a wife, and that is what is important. The other thing that is important is that I am happy. My piles of books, various art projects and new ventures all make me happy. They keep my mind stimulated and allow me the variety in life that I desire.

Some people desire a lot of consistency in their lives, and many hope to become an expert in one or two areas. That is fine for some people and there is nothing wrong with them. They are just wired different than me. I am more of what some might call a jack jane of all trades. And while you might say this means I am a master of none, I look at it more like this: I am a renaissance woman. And that makes me happy.

Do you have a variety of interests? What is/are your hobbies? Focused experts, feel free to chime in, too!

You sound just like me! I have begun to control and focus some of my projects -I am choosing to less physical ones or have quite so many going at a time.

We have also been decluttering and trying to control chaos in our homes and minds. It has been very freeing. 🙂

But I have come to terms with things others feel are “wrong” or “different”. Such as staying up late (which is when I work best). Alternating my standing and sitting task so that I feed my ADD but am able to keep up with my house and businesses, etc…

Thank you for sharing this though I needed the encouragement to know I don’t have to fit in someone else’s “box”.

Tina – I am so glad you enjoyed this. I plan to implement some of your organizing tips shared over on your blog, as well! Trying to clean out so I can better focus on the 10 or so projects that I have going on at a time. 😉

No wonder we’re friends! 🙂 Having more things going on usually helps me focus on items during the time allotted. I think I’ve lost a little bit of the diversity as careers tend to focus on one area, and options are limited in my small town. But I’m working on finding some new things again. In addition to yoga, running and watching college basketball, I have been pulling out my paints. I just bought some poetry books, and I am trying to increase variety in the movies I watch. I know it will take me forever to finish a cross stitch but I’m okay with that. It’s definitely about finding what works for you.Dawn recently posted…Month in Review

Leah Ballard

Hi. I'm Leah. I'm a wife, mother, full-time employee and blogger. I am trying to juggle all these roles while also figuring out what I want to be 'when I grow up.' I hope you'll join me and gain some insights into your own professional journey along the way. Read More…